In his winning submission for the Tahiti GoPro Challenge, Bruno Santos captures Teahupo'o breaking before tucking into the barrel.

The GoPro Challenge asks competing World Surf League (WSL) athletes to submit their own GoPro videos from the competition venue and surrounding areas, with clips accepted starting two days prior to the contest window and no later than the conclusion of the event. Though Teahupo'o was fickle and not always contestable, it still made for some fantastic shots, with views of Tahiti's lush mountains at the end of the tunnel -- literally.

Santos' video had the perfect mix of the contest's winning criteria, which include cinematography, degree of difficulty of shooting, perspective and overall beauty and lighting. Each element held equal weight and the panel of five judges -- three from the WSL staff and two from GoPro -- ultimately crowned Santos as champion.

GoPro Challenge Explained

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The GoPro Challenge returns in 2015, starting with the elite Tours' arrivals on Fiji.

The Tahiti GoPro Challenge was the most popular event last season, but this year saw almost twice the number of submissions. Here are some of the other nominees:

Slater's Dark Side

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The Tour icon drops into a dark and stormy barrel in his first entry for the Tahiti GoPro Challenge.

Kerr's Tahitian Secret

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Josh Kerr submits the first GoPro Challenge Tahiti clip for a hollow righthander.

Otton's Fly-By

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Kai Otton slides into and out of a barrel for his fourth GoPro Challenge clip.

The next GoPro Challenge will be at the Billabong Pipe Masters, which kicks off December 8 and is the final stop on the men's 2015 Samsung Galaxy Championship Tour. Watch all the submissions to the 2015 GoPro Challenge here.